Time for U.S.

MUSIC: U2:

July 09, 2001

to disarm

"The song needed something that would contemporize it," says the Edge. "We're treading a very fine line between being artists and wanting to lecture Americans about issues that are important. It's basically turning the mirror on the audience."

During their June 21st performance at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Bono stood at the end of the heart-shaped catwalk, illuminated only by the flashlight he held in his hand. At the song's climax, Bono turned the flashlight toward his face as he repeated, "What's my name? Mark Chapman!" over and over again, referring to John Lennon's assassin.

In the past twenty-one years, 676,000 Americans have died as a result of gun violence - a total higher than the death tally from the Vietnam War. "It's so surprising to people who come from Europe and anyone who's come from Ireland that in the U.S. guns are so available," says the Edge. "It has always mystified us."